UK oil titan BP, Associated British Foods and DuPont are to make investments totaling approximately $400 million in the construction of a world-scale bioethanol plant at the site of BP's existing chemicals facility at Saltend, Hull in the UK.
BP and Associated British Foods (ABF) subsidiary British Sugar will each hold 45% of the new bioethanol plant, while DuPont will own the remaining 10%. Due to be commissioned in late 2009, the plant will have an annual production capacity of some 420 million liters from wheat feedstock.
We are delighted to be announcing, subject to the necessary approvals, the construction of a world-scale bioethanol plant in Hull with our partners ABF and DuPont to enable petrol biocomponents to be available to meet the 2010 Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, said Iain Conn, CEO of BP’s refining and marketing business.
The BP site in Hull has also been selected as the preferred location for a planned biobutanol demonstration plant, funded and owned equally by BP and DuPont, which could produce around 20,000 liters of biobutanol a year from a wide variety of feedstocks, once the required technology is available.
According to BP, biobutanol has the potential to be blended into gasoline at larger concentrations than existing biofuels without the need to retrofit vehicles and it offers better fuel economy than gasoline-ethanol blends, improving a car’s fuel efficiency and mileage.
Over the last year, we have accelerated the commercial development of biobutanol, said John Ranieri, head of DuPont Biofuels. The demonstration facility, which will begin operation in early 2009, will develop the processing parameters and further advance the commercial deployment of our new technology.
To begin market development of biobutanol, BP and DuPont are also establishing initial introduction plans for the fuel in the UK. The companies will import small quantities of biobutanol, sourced from an existing first-generation manufacturing facility in China. The first product is expected to arrive by the end of the year and will be used to carry out infrastructure and advanced vehicle testing, as well as to establish the environmental impact of the fuel.